In many cases, deliciousness of food is directly related with feeling felt by the tongue or mouthfeel felt when chewing food, as well as taste of food. Further, a person may also evaluate quality of food by knowing hardness, softness, viscosity, elasticity, density, a size of particles, and the like of food through physical stimulus or mouthfeel in the mouth, and based thereon, determining freshness, maturement, degree of boiling, presence or absence of foreign material, component composition, and the like.
Texture of food greatly affects decision on intake of the food and affects purchase intention of food of a consumer. Therefore, in food industries, texture analysis is performed in product development process so that the food has texture consumers prefer.
The texture analysis of food may be performed by two methods of sensory evaluation and a method using a device. However, in a case of sensory evaluation, it is difficult to objectively digitize texture evaluation items. Accordingly, physical properties of general food are analyzed using various kinds of texture analyzers.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-227021 (published on Aug. 31, 2006) as the related art discloses a porous food palatability evaluation method and a porous food data processing device. The porous food palatability evaluation method and the porous food data processing device are to evaluate palatability of porous food by using values obtained by performing acoustic analysis on sound and vibration generated when crushing and chewing the porous food by using sharpness and roughness as an acoustic measure, without performing a sensory experiment.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-12242 (published on Jan. 15, 2004) discloses a food texture measuring method and a food texture measuring device. The food texture measuring device which quantifies food texture from a position of crushing by measuring vibration at the time of crushing food by bone conduction, includes a plurality of thin plates corresponding to teeth, a first supporter corresponding to the jawbone and having two sensors connected to both sides of the thin plates, a driving unit moving the first supporter to hold the food using the plurality of thin plates and crush the food, a acquisition unit acquiring an electrical signal by converting the vibration at the time of crushing food into an electrical signal by the sensor, and a calculation unit requiring index indicating time difference of the electrical signal, difference in relative amplitude by attenuation, the position of crushing, and a degree of localization.
The analysis using the device like the food texture measuring device according to the related art described above may be easily and rapidly performed, and a result having reproducibility may be obtained. However, since a probe used in such analysis generally has a simple cylinder form, a pin form, a conical form, or a blade form and a thin plate corresponding to teeth as described above is used, food texture by a molar, a front tooth or a canine tooth actually constituting the teeth may not be accurately and objectively analyzed. That is, the probes having simple forms that are currently used have a form and a size completely different from those of teeth of human, thus physical properties of food to be chewed by human may not be objectively analyzed.
Meanwhile, the problem was some what solved by providing a probe device for analyzing physical properties of food, having a standard teeth form of the real human body. That is, the physical properties of food was able to be objectively analyzed using a probe device having a teeth form.
However, since such probe device for analyzing physical properties of food, having a teeth form was configured to move an upper jaw model and a lower jaw model in a vertical direction to be occluded, there is much difference with a real chewing motion of the human body using the jaw joint, therefore, it is difficult to accurately measure the physical properties of food.